Thank you Kit for the suggestion. I am awaiting delivery via snail mail of a copy of the pages from the family bible, to see if I can find any other clues. The GGgrandparents in this bible were David James (DJ) Chesterman and Martha Sandys. Their only child was my Ggrandfather George William Chesterman, who for some unknown reason changed his middle name from William to Sanford when he was about 25. George's Ontario marriage record in Lanark County, 20 July 1882, shows his birthplace as Meaford. I suspect that DJ and Martha started the family bible some years after their marriage in 1854 and the birth of George in 1857, when they no longer lived in or near Grey County, and had to kind of guess at the names of Meathford and Agenbough. Your name, Kit, is the same as the mother of my cousin, John Chesterman, to whom the family bible belongs. Curious coincidence! Tom Beatson On Sep 25, 2006, at 12:40 PM, Kit Cutting wrote: > Could the place be Agincourt, Ontario. Agincourt is a part of > Toronto but > was a village in 1858. > ----- Original Message ----- > > >> >> Message: 2 >> Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:18:07 -0700 >> From: Tom Beatson <tombeatson@cox.net> >> Subject: [CAN-ONT-GREY] Meaford - Meathford? >> To: CAN-ONT-GREY-L@rootsweb.com >> Message-ID: <2597CB35-5C80-49F7-A525-48C4F7B0E95F@cox.net> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed >> >> I have been exchanging info with my cousin, who has a family bible >> that belonged to our great great grandparents. It says they were >> married in 1854 in Agenbough, North America, and their only child was >> born in 1857 in Meathford, North America. My own research turned up >> the 1882 marriage record of that child and identified his birthplace >> as Meaford. Is there any known evidence of Meaford having been known >> as Meathford? Was Agenbough located in Grey County? Thank you in >> advance for any help you can provide. >> >> Tom Beatson >> Phoenix, Arizona USA >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CAN-ONT-GREY- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

I now have the copy of the pages from the Family Bible. There is no mention of "Meathford", just Meaford, so apparently that was a problem with my cousin's memory. The Bible makes it clear that my Ggrandfather George William Chesterman was born "August 15, 1857 Meaford C No. America". No other births were recorded. On another page the marriage of George's parents was recorded. They were DJ Chesterman and Martha Sandys on May 21st 1854 in "the Episcopal Church city of Ogenburgh North America". My guess is that Ogenburgh was actually Ogdensburg, New York, on the St. Lawrence River, and I plan to contact the Episcopal church in Ogdensburg. The Chestermans didn't remain in Meaford very long, because they were back in England for the 1861 census. Family legend claims that DJ (David James) was a Methodist minister, and I am wondering if they may have been involved with the Underground Railroad. The Chesterman family is white, not black. If anyone in Meaford or Owen Sound can provide me with a way to verify my Underground Railroad suspicion I would be very greatful. Tom Beatson Phoenix, Arizona USA On Sep 25, 2006, at 1:49 PM, Tom Beatson wrote: > Thank you Kit for the suggestion. I am awaiting delivery via snail > mail of a copy of the pages from the family bible, to see if I can > find any other clues. The GGgrandparents in this bible were David > James (DJ) Chesterman and Martha Sandys. Their only child was my > Ggrandfather George William Chesterman, who for some unknown reason > changed his middle name from William to Sanford when he was about 25. > George's Ontario marriage record in Lanark County, 20 July 1882, > shows his birthplace as Meaford. I suspect that DJ and Martha started > the family bible some years after their marriage in 1854 and the > birth of George in 1857, when they no longer lived in or near Grey > County, and had to kind of guess at the names of Meathford and > Agenbough.